Transcription

1 A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND AND OTHER STORIES by Flannery O'Connor

2 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be mailed to: Copyrights and Permissions Department, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, Orlando, Florida Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data O'Connor, Flannery. A good man is hard to find and other stories. (A Harvest/HBJ book) CONTENTS: A good man is hard to find. -- The river. -- The life you

3 save may be your own. -- A stroke of good fortune, [etc.] I. Title. [PZ4.0183G09] [PS3565-C57] 813'.5' ISBN Printed in the United States of America FOR SALLY AND ROBERT FITZGERALD

4 CONTENTS A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND THE RIVER THE LIFE YOU SAVE MAY BE YOUR OWN A STROKE OF GOOD FORTUNE A TEMPLE OF THE HOLY GHOST THE ARTIFICIAL NIGGER A CIRCLE IN THE FIRE A LATE ENCOUNTER WITH THE ENEMY GOOD COUNTRY PEOPLE THE DISPLACED PERSON

5 A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND THE GRANDMOTHER didn't want to go to Florida. She wanted to visit some of her connections in east Tennessee and she was seizing at every chance to change Bailey's mind. Bailey was the son she lived with, her only boy. He was sitting on the edge of his chair at the table, bent over the orange sports section of the _Journal_. "Now look here, Bailey," she said, "see here, read this," and she stood with one hand on her thin hip

6 and the other rattling the newspaper at his bald head. "Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to these people. Just you read it. I wouldn't take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn't answer to my conscience if I did." Bailey didn't look up from his reading so she wheeled around then and faced the children's mother, a young woman in slacks, whose face was as broad and innocent as a cabbage and was tied around with a green head-kerchief that had two points on the top like rabbit's ears. She was sitting on the sofa, feeding the baby his apricots out of a jar. "The children have been to Florida before," the old lady said. "You all ought to take them somewhere else for a change so they would see different parts of the world and be broad. They never have been to east Tennessee." The children's mother didn't seem to hear her but the eight-year-old boy, John Wesley, a stocky child with glasses, said, "If you don't want to go to Florida, why dontcha stay at home?" He and the little girl, June Star, were reading the funny papers on the floor. "She wouldn't stay at home to be queen for a day," June Star said without raising her yellow head. "Yes and what would you do if this fellow, The Misfit, caught you?"

7 the grandmother asked. "I'd smack his face," John Wesley said. "She wouldn't stay at home for a million bucks," June Star said. "Afraid she'd miss something. She has to go everywhere we go." "All right, Miss," the grandmother said. "Just remember that the next time you want me to curl your hair." June Star said her hair was naturally curly. The next morning the grandmother was the first one in the car, ready to go. She had her big black valise that looked like the head of a hippopotamus in one corner, and underneath it she was hiding a basket with Pitty Sing, the cat, in it. She didn't intend for the cat to be left alone in the house for three days because he would miss her too much and she was afraid he might brush against one of the gas burners and accidentally asphyxiate himself. Her son, Bailey, didn't like to arrive at a motel with a cat. She sat in the middle of the back seat with John Wesley and June Star on either side of her. Bailey and the children's mother and the baby sat in front and they left Atlanta at eight forty-five with the mileage on the car at The grandmother wrote this down because she thought it would be interesting to say how many miles they had been when they got back.

8 It took them twenty minutes to reach the outskirts of the city. The old lady settled herself comfortably, removing her white cotton gloves and putting them up with her purse on the shelf in front of the back window. The children's mother still had on slacks and still had her head tied up in a green kerchief, but the grandmother had on a navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim and a navy blue dress with a small white dot in the print. Her collars and cuffs were white organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet. In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady. She said she thought it was going to be a good day for driving, neither too hot nor too cold, and she cautioned Bailey that the speed limit was fifty-five miles an hour and that the patrolmen hid themselves behind billboards and small clumps of trees and sped out after you before you had a chance to slow down. She pointed out interesting details of the scenery: Stone Mountain; the blue granite that in some places came up to both sides of the highway; the brilliant red clay banks slightly streaked with purple; and the various crops that made rows of green lace-work on the ground. The trees were full of silver-white sunlight and the meanest of them sparkled. The children were reading comic magazines and their

9 mother had gone back to sleep. "Let's go through Georgia fast so we won't have to look at it much," John Wesley said. "If I were a little boy," said the grandmother, "I wouldn't talk about my native state that way. Tennessee has the mountains and Georgia has the hills." "Tennessee is just a hillbilly dumping ground," John Wesley said, "and Georgia is a lousy state too." "You said it," June Star said. "In my time," said the grandmother, folding her thin veined fingers, "children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else. People did right then. Oh look at the cute little pickaninny!" she said and pointed to a Negro child standing in the door of a shack. "Wouldn't that make a picture, now?" she asked and they all turned and looked at the little Negro out of the back window. He waved. "He didn't have any britches on," June Star said. "He probably didn't have any," the grandmother explained. "Little niggers in the country don't have things like we do. If I could paint, I'd paint that picture," she said. The children exchanged comic books.

10 The grandmother offered to hold the baby and the children's mother passed him over the front seat to her. She set him on her knee and bounced him and told him about the things they were passing. She rolled her eyes and screwed up her mouth and stuck her leathery thin face into his smooth bland one. Occasionally he gave her a faraway smile. They passed a large cotton field with five or six graves fenced in the middle of it, like a small island. "Look at the graveyard!" the grandmother said, pointing it out. "That was the old family burying ground. That belonged to the plantation." "Where's the plantation?" John Wesley asked. "Gone With the Wind," said the grandmother. "Ha. Ha." When the children finished all the comic books they had brought, they opened the lunch and ate it. The grandmother ate a peanut butter sandwich and an olive and would not let the children throw the box and the paper napkins out the window. When there was nothing else to do they played a game by choosing a cloud and making the other two guess what shape it suggested. John Wesley took one the shape of a cow and June Star guessed a cow and John Wesley said, no, an automobile, and June Star said he didn't play fair, and they began to slap each other over the grandmother.

11 The grandmother said she would tell them a story if they would keep quiet. When she told a story, she rolled her eyes and waved her head and was very dramatic. She said once when she was a maiden lady she had been courted by a Mr. Edgar Atkins Teagarden from Jasper, Georgia. She said he was a very good-looking man and a gentleman and that he brought her a watermelon every Saturday afternoon with his initials cut in it, E. A. T. Well, one Saturday, she said, Mr. Teagarden brought the watermelon and there was nobody at home and he left it on the front porch and returned in his buggy to Jasper, but she never got the watermelon, she said, because a nigger boy ate it when he saw the initials, E. A. T.! This story tickled John Wesley's funny bone and he giggled and giggled but June Star didn't think it was any good. She said she wouldn't marry a man that just brought her a watermelon on Saturday. The grandmother said she would have done well to marry Mr. Teagarden because he was a gentleman and had bought Coca-Cola stock when it first came out and that he had died only a few years ago, a very wealthy man. They stopped at The Tower for barbecued sandwiches. The Tower was a part stucco and part wood filling station and dance hall set in a clearing outside of Timothy. A fat man named Red Sammy Butts ran it and there were signs stuck here and there on the building and for miles up

12 and down the highway saying, TRY RED SAMMY'S FAMOUS BARBECUE. NONE LIKE FAMOUS RED SAMMY'S! RED SAM! THE FAT BOY WITH THE HAPPY LAUGH. A VETERAN! RED SAMMY'S YOUR MAN! Red Sammy was lying on the bare ground outside The Tower with his head under a truck while a gray monkey about a foot high, chained to a small chinaberry tree, chattered nearby. The monkey sprang back into the tree and got on the highest limb as soon as he saw the children jump out of the car and run toward him. Inside, The Tower was a long dark room with a counter at one end and tables at the other and dancing space in the middle. They all sat down at a board table next to the nickelodeon and Red Sam's wife, a tall burnt-brown woman with hair and eyes lighter than her skin, came and took their order. The children's mother put a dime in the machine and played "The Tennessee Waltz," and the grandmother said that tune always made her want to dance. She asked Bailey if he would like to dance but he only glared at her. He didn't have a naturally sunny disposition like she did and trips made him nervous. The grandmother's brown eyes were very bright. She swayed her head from side to side and pretended she was dancing in her chair. June Star said play something she could tap to so the

13 children's mother put in another dime and played a fast number and June Star stepped out onto the dance floor and did her tap routine. "Ain't she cute?" Red Sam's wife said, leaning over the counter. "Would you like to come be my little girl?" "No I certainly wouldn't," June Star said. "I wouldn't live in a broken-down place like this for a million bucks!" and she ran back to the table. "Ain't she cute?" the woman repeated, stretching her mouth politely. "Arn't you ashamed?" hissed the grandmother. Red Sam came in and told his wife to quit lounging on the counter and hurry up with these people's order. His khaki trousers reached just to his hip bones and his stomach hung over them like a sack of meal swaying under his shirt. He came over and sat down at a table nearby and let out a combination sigh and yodel. "You can't win," he said. "You can't win," and he wiped his sweating red face off with a gray handkerchief. "These days you don't know who to trust," he said. "Ain't that the truth?" "People are certainly not nice like they used to be," said the grandmother. "Two fellers come in here last week," Red Sammy said, "driving a Chrysler. It was a old beat-up car but it was a good one and these boys

14 looked all right to me. Said they worked at the mill and you know I let them fellers charge the gas they bought? Now why did I do that?" "Because you're a good man!" the grandmother said at once. "Yes'm, I suppose so," Red Sam said as if he were struck with this answer. His wife brought the orders, carrying the five plates all at once without a tray, two in each hand and one balanced on her arm. "It isn't a soul in this green world of God's that you can trust," she said. "And I don't count nobody out of that, not nobody," she repeated, looking at Red Sammy. "Did you read about that criminal. The Misfit, that's escaped?" asked the grandmother. "I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he didn't attact this place right here," said the woman. "If he hears about it being here, I wouldn't be none surprised to see him. If he hears it's two cent in the cash register, I wouldn't be a tall surprised if he..." "That'll do," Red Sam said. "Go bring these people their Co'-Colas," and the woman went off to get the rest of the order. "A good man is hard to find," Red Sammy said. "Everything is getting terrible. I remember the day you could go off and leave your screen door

15 unlatched. Not no more." He and the grandmother discussed better times. The old lady said that in her opinion Europe was entirely to blame for the way things were now. She said the way Europe acted you would think we were made of money and Red Sam said it was no use talking about it, she was exactly right. The children ran outside into the white sunlight and looked at the monkey in the lacy chinaberry tree. He was busy catching fleas on himself and biting each one carefully between his teeth as if it were a delicacy. They drove off again into the hot afternoon. The grandmother took cat naps and woke up every few minutes with her own snoring. Outside of Toombsboro she woke up and recalled an old plantation that she had visited in this neighborhood once when she was a young lady. She said the house had six white columns across the front and that there was an avenue of oaks leading up to it and two little wooden trellis arbors on either side in front where you sat down with your suitor after a stroll in the garden. She recalled exactly which road to turn off to get to it. She knew that Bailey would not be willing to lose any time looking at an old house, but the more she talked about it, the more she wanted to see it once again and find out if the little twin arbors were still standing. "There was a secret panel in this house," she said craftily, not telling the truth but

16 wishing that she were, "and the story went that all the family silver was hidden in it when Sherman came through but it was never found..." "Hey!" John Wesley said. "Let's go see it! We'll find it! We'll poke all the woodwork and find it! Who lives there? Where do you turn off at? Hey Pop, can't we turn off there?" "We never have seen a house with a secret panel!" June Star shrieked. "Let's go to the house with the secret panel! Hey Pop, can't we go see the house with the secret panel!" "It's not far from here, I know," the grandmother said. "It wouldn't take over twenty minutes." Bailey was looking straight ahead. His jaw was as rigid as a horseshoe. "No," he said. The children began to yell and scream that they wanted to see the house with the secret panel. John Wesley kicked the back of the front seat and June Star hung over her mother's shoulder and whined desperately into her ear that they never had any fun even on their vacation, that they could never do what THEY wanted to do. The baby began to scream and John Wesley kicked the back of the seat so hard that his father could feel the blows in his kidney. "All right!" he shouted and drew the car to a stop at the side of the

17 road. "Will you all shut up? Will you all just shut up for one second? If you don't shut up, we won't go anywhere." "It would be very educational for them," the grandmother murmured. "All right," Bailey said, "but get this: this is the only time we're going to stop for anything like this. This is the one and only time." "The dirt road that you have to turn down is about a mile back," the grandmother directed. "I marked it when we passed." "A dirt road," Bailey groaned. After they had turned around and were headed toward the dirt road, the grandmother recalled other points about the house, the beautiful glass over the front doorway and the candle-lamp in the hall. John Wesley said that the secret panel was probably in the fireplace. "You can't go inside this house," Bailey said. "You don't know who lives there." "While you all talk to the people in front, I'll run around behind and get in a window," John Wesley suggested. "We'll all stay in the car," his mother said. They turned onto the dirt road and the car raced roughly along in a swirl of pink dust. The grandmother recalled the times when there were no paved roads and thirty miles was a day's journey. The dirt road was

18 hilly and there were sudden washes in it and sharp curves on dangerous embankments. All at once they would be on a hill, looking down over the blue tops of trees for miles around, then the next minute, they would be in a red depression with the dust-coated trees looking down on them. "This place had better turn up in a minute," Bailey said, "or I'm going to turn around." The road looked as if no one had traveled on it in months. "It's not much farther," the grandmother said and just as she said it, a horrible thought came to her. The thought was so embarrassing that she turned red in the face and her eyes dilated and her feet jumped up, upsetting her valise in the corner. The instant the valise moved, the newspaper top she had over the basket under it rose with a snarl and Pitty Sing, the cat, sprang onto Bailey's shoulder. The children were thrown to the floor and their mother, clutching the baby, was thrown out the door onto the ground; the old lady was thrown into the front seat. The car turned over once and landed right-side-up in a gulch off the side of the road. Bailey remained in the driver's seat with the cat -- gray-striped with a broad white face and an orange nose -- clinging to his neck like a caterpillar. As soon as the children saw they could move their arms and legs, they

19 scrambled out of the car, shouting, "We've had an ACCIDENT!" The grandmother was curled up under the dashboard, hoping she was injured so that Bailey's wrath would not come down on her all at once. The horrible thought she had had before the accident was that the house she had remembered so vividly was not in Georgia but in Tennessee. Bailey removed the cat from his neck with both hands and flung it out the window against the side of a pine tree. Then he got out of the car and started looking for the children's mother. She was sitting against the side of the red gutted ditch, holding the screaming baby, but she only had a cut down her face and a broken shoulder. "We've had an ACCIDENT!" the children screamed in a frenzy of delight. "But nobody's killed," June Star said with disappointment as the grandmother limped out of the car, her hat still pinned to her head but the broken front brim standing up at a jaunty angle and the violet spray hanging off the side. They all sat down in the ditch, except the children, to recover from the shock. They were all shaking. "Maybe a car will come along," said the children's mother hoarsely "I believe I have injured an organ," said the grandmother, pressing her side, but no one answered her. Bailey's teeth were clattering. He had on a yellow sport shirt with bright blue parrots designed in it and his face was

20 as yellow as the shirt. The grandmother decided that she would not mention that the house was in Tennessee. The road was about ten feet above and they could see only the tops of the trees on the other side of it. Behind the ditch they were sitting in there were more woods, tall and dark and deep. In a few minutes they saw a car some distance away on top of a hill, coming slowly as if the occupants were watching them. The grandmother stood up and waved both arms dramatically to attract their attention. The car continued to come on slowly, disappeared around a bend and appeared again, moving even slower, on top of the hill they had gone over. It was a big black battered hearse-like automobile. There were three men in it. It came to a stop just over them and for some minutes, the driver looked down with a steady expressionless gaze to where they were sitting, and didn't speak. Then he turned his head and muttered something to the other two and they got out. One was a fat boy in black trousers and a red sweat shirt with a silver stallion embossed on the front of it. He moved around on the right side of them and stood staring, his mouth partly open in a kind of loose grin. The other had on khaki pants and a blue striped coat and a gray hat pulled down very low, hiding most of his face. He came around slowly on the left side. Neither spoke.

21 The driver got out of the car and stood by the side of it, looking down at them. He was an older man than the other two. His hair was just beginning to gray and he wore silver-rimmed spectacles that gave him a scholarly look. He had a long creased face and didn't have on any shirt or undershirt. He had on blue jeans that were too tight for him and was holding a black hat and a gun. The two boys also had guns. "We've had an ACCIDENT!" the children screamed. The grandmother had the peculiar feeling that the bespectacled man was someone she knew. His face was as familiar to her as if she had known him all her life but she could not recall who he was. He moved away from the car and began to come down the embankment, placing his feet carefully so that he wouldn't slip. He had on tan and white shoes and no socks, and his ankles were red and thin. "Good afternoon," he said. "I see you all had you a little spill." "We turned over twice!" said the grandmother. "Oncet," he corrected. "We seen it happen. Try their car and see will it run, Hiram," he said quietly to the boy with the gray hat. "What you got that gun for?" John Wesley asked. "Whatcha gonna do with that gun?" "Lady," the man said to the children's mother, "would you mind

22 calling them children to sit down by you? Children make me nervous. I want all you all to sit down right together there where you're at." "What are you telling US what to do for?" June Star asked. Behind them the line of woods gaped like a dark open mouth. "Come here," said their mother. "Look here now," Bailey began suddenly, "we're in a predicament! We're in..." The grandmother shrieked. She scrambled to her feet and stood staring. "You're The Misfit!" she said. "I recognized you at once!" "Yes'm," the man said, smiling slightly as if he were pleased in spite of himself to be known, "but it would have been better for all of you, lady, if you hadn't of reckernized me." Bailey turned his head sharply and said something to his mother that shocked even the children. The old lady began to cry and The Misfit reddened. "Lady," he said, "don't you get upset. Sometimes a man says things he don't mean. I don't reckon he meant to talk to you thataway." "You wouldn't shoot a lady, would you?" the grandmother said and removed a clean handkerchief from her cuff and began to slap at her eyes with it.

23 The Misfit pointed the toe of his shoe into the ground and made a little hole and then covered it up again. "I would hate to have to," he said. "Listen," the grandmother almost screamed, "I know you're a good man. You don't look a bit like you have common blood. I know you must come from nice people!" "Yes mam," he said, "finest people in the world." When he smiled he showed a row of strong white teeth. "God never made a finer woman than my mother and my daddy's heart was pure gold," he said. The boy with the red sweat shirt had come around behind them and was standing with his gun at his hip. The Misfit squatted down on the ground. "Watch them children, Bobby Lee," he said. "You know they make me nervous." He looked at the six of them huddled together in front of him and he seemed to be embarrassed as if he couldn't think of anything to say. "Ain't a cloud in the sky," he remarked, looking up at it. "Don't see no sun but don't see no cloud neither." "Yes, it's a beautiful day," said the grandmother. "Listen," she said, "you shouldn't call yourself The Misfit because I know you're a good man at heart. I can just look at you and tell." "Hush!" Bailey yelled. "Hush! Everybody shut up and let me handle this!" He was squatting in the position of a runner about to sprint forward

24 but he didn't move. "I pre-chate that, lady," The Misfit said and drew a little circle in the ground with the butt of his gun. "It'll take a half a hour to fix this here car," Hiram called, looking over the raised hood of it. "Well, first you and Bobby Lee get him and that little boy to step over yonder with you," The Misfit said, pointing to Bailey and John Wesley. "The boys want to ast you something," he said to Bailey. "Would you mind stepping back in them woods there with them?" "Listen," Bailey began, "we're in a terrible predicament! Nobody realizes what this is," and his voice cracked. His eyes were as blue and intense as the parrots in his shirt and he remained perfectly still. The grandmother reached up to adjust her hat brim as if she were going to the woods with him but it came off in her hand. She stood staring at it and after a second she let it fall on the ground. Hiram pulled Bailey up by the arm as if he were assisting an old man. John Wesley caught hold of his father's hand and Bobby Lee followed. They went off toward the woods and just as they reached the dark edge, Bailey turned and supporting himself against a gray naked pine trunk, he shouted, "I'll be back in a minute, Mamma, wait on me!"

25 "Come back this instant!" his mother shrilled but they all disappeared into the woods. "Bailey Boy!" the grandmother called in a tragic voice but she found she was looking at The Misfit squatting on the ground in front of her. "I just know you're a good man," she said desperately. "You're not a bit common!" "Nome, I ain't a good man," The Misfit said after a second as if he had considered her statement carefully, "but I ain't the worst in the world neither. My daddy said I was a different breed of dog from my brothers and sisters. 'You know,' Daddy said, 'it's some that can live their whole life out without asking about it and it's others has to know why it is, and this boy is one of the latters. He's going to be into everything!' " He put on his black hat and looked up suddenly and then away deep into the woods as if he were embarrassed again. "I'm sorry I don't have on a shirt before you ladies," he said, hunching his shoulders slightly. "We buried our clothes that we had on when we escaped and we're just making do until we can get better. We borrowed these from some folks we met," he explained. "That's perfectly all right," the grandmother said. "Maybe Bailey has an extra shirt in his suitcase."

26 "I'll look and see terrectly," The Misfit said. "Where are they taking him?" the children's mother screamed. "Daddy was a card himself," The Misfit said. "You couldn't put anything over on him. He never got in trouble with the Authorities though. Just had the knack of handling them." "You could be honest too if you'd only try," said the grandmother. "Think how wonderful it would be to settle down and live a comfortable life and not have to think about somebody chasing you all the time." The Misfit kept scratching in the ground with the butt of his gun as if he were thinking about it. "Yes'm, somebody is always after you," he murmured. The grandmother noticed how thin his shoulder blades were just behind his hat because she was standing up looking down on him. "Do you ever pray?" she asked. He shook his head. All she saw was the black hat wiggle between his shoulder blades. "Nome," he said. There was a pistol shot from the woods, followed closely by another. Then silence. The old lady's head jerked around. She could hear the wind move through the tree tops like a long satisfied insuck of breath. "Bailey Boy!" she called.

27 "I was a gospel singer for a while," The Misfit said. "I been most everything. Been in the arm service, both land and sea, at home and abroad, been twict married, been an undertaker, been with the railroads, plowed Mother Earth, been in a tornado, seen a man burnt alive oncet," and he looked up at the children's mother and the little girl who were sitting close together, their faces white and their eyes glassy; "I even seen a woman flogged," he said. "Pray, pray," the grandmother began, "pray, pray..." "I never was a bad boy that I remember of," The Misfit said in an almost dreamy voice, "but somewheres along the line I done something wrong and got sent to the penitentiary. I was buried alive," and he looked up and held her attention to him by a steady stare. "That's when you should have started to pray," she said. "What did you do to get sent to the penitentiary that first time?" "Turn to the right, it was a wall," The Misfit said, looking up again at the cloudless sky. "Turn to the left, it was a wall. Look up it was a ceiling, look down it was a floor. I forget what I done, lady. I set there and set there, trying to remember what it was I done and I ain't recalled it to this day. Oncet in a while, I would think it was coming to me, but it never come."

28 "Maybe they put you in by mistake." the old lady said vaguely. "Nome," he said. "It wasn't no mistake. They had the papers on me." "You must have stolen something," she said. The Misfit sneered slightly. "Nobody had nothing I wanted," he said. "It was a head-doctor at the penitentiary said what I had done was kill my daddy but I known that for a lie. My daddy died in nineteen ought nineteen of the epidemic flu and I never had a thing to do with it. He was buried in the Mount Hopewell Baptist churchyard and you can go there and see for yourself." "If you would pray," the old lady said, "Jesus would help you." "That's right," The Misfit said. "Well then, why don't you pray?" she asked trembling with delight suddenly. "I don't want no hep," he said. "I'm doing all right by myself." Bobby Lee and Hiram came ambling back from the woods. Bobby Lee was dragging a yellow shirt with bright blue parrots in it. "Thow me that shirt, Bobby Lee," The Misfit said. The shirt came flying at him and landed on his shoulder and he put it on. The grandmother couldn't name what the shirt reminded her of. "No, lady," The Misfit said while he was buttoning it up, "I found out the crime don't

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Chapter 1 Mum s new baby I threw my school bag onto the floor in my room, changed into jeans and a T-shirt and then ran back down the hall. Mum called me. Jenna, I need you for a minute. I looked at my

Little Red Riding Hood Mattia Cinus Little Red Riding Hood Once upon a time there was a sweet little girl. Everyone who saw her liked her, but most of all her grandmother, who did not know what to give

The Story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Goldilocks. She went for a walk in the forest. Pretty soon, she came upon a house. She knocked and, when no one

Shadow s Secret 1 New Kid in 1 the Fort hhh! Manny whispered. Keep your head down. Jake ducked and barely breathed. Between the green leaves on the tree s branches, he could see the turning wheels of two

The Little Lost Lamb Inspired by Luke 15:4-6 Written by Wendinne Buss Pictures by Marguerite Acton 2004 General Church Office of Education The Little Lost Lamb from the Office of Education s Early Childhood

1 Tom and Daisy That spring, the sun shone every day. I was lonely at first in the East. But I felt that this was the real beginning of my life. I walked in the fresh air. I bought books. I worked hard.

I was finishing to write a new article for my work when I received a call from my friend. She said that she had an idea for me to make a new article which can make the first page of London's newspaper.

A Shovel With My Name On It Plots with Guns, September, 2003 One thing I know, it s the sound of a man digging a hole. I ve done it enough times myself, believe me. I know the sound of the shovel hitting

Alice in Wonderland Introduction This time the Cheshire Cat vanished quite slowly. First its body went, then its legs. Then all of it vanished, and there was only its smile. 'There are a lot of cats without

Playing War Too hot for basketball, Luke said. Let s do something else. They moved to the shade under the willow tree while they decided what to do next. Do you have any more water balloons? Danny asked.

This is George. He lived in Africa. He was very happy. But he had one fault. He was too curious. One day George saw a man. He had on a large yellow straw hat. The man saw George, too. "What a nice little

Shannon O Connor There is a Light that Never Goes Out No. I don t even know why I m here. I shouldn t be. You should let me go home now. I don t think we can do that. You must be here for a reason, and

Miraculous Catches of Fish Scripture: Luke 5:1-11; John 21:1-6 Objective: God has a Plan! Bible Memory Verse: Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you

1 The Road to Castle Dracula My name is Jonathan Harker. I am a lawyer and I live in London. About seven years ago, some strange and terrible things happened to me. Many of my dear friends were in danger

MAGICAL BOOK SHELF Chapter 1 Daniel Brandon bounded up the steps to the library two at a time. Third grade was finally over. It was going to be a long, hot summer and reading some good, new books was just

A Note to Parents This Wordbook contains all the sight words we will be studying throughout the year plus some additional enrichment words. Your child should spend some time each week studying this Wordbook

E d g a r A l l a n P o e p The Fall of the House of Usher Part One It was a dark and soundless day near the end of the year, and clouds were hanging low in the heavens. All day I had been riding on horseback

Excerpt from Because of Winn Dixie I spent a lot of time that summer at the Herman W. Block Memorial Library. The Herman W. Block Memorial Library sounds like it would be a big fancy place, but it s not.

MACMILLAN READERS PRE-INTERMEDIATE LEVEL H. G. WELLS The Invisible Man Retold by Nick Bullard MACMILLAN Contents A Note About The Author 4 A Note About The Story 5 The People In The Story 7 1 The Arrival

Alex hurt his leg. He and his mom went into an office. There were chairs around the walls. There were things to read on the table. Where were Alex and his Mom? A. Dentist s office B. Eye Doctor s office

"A Young Child's Point of View on Foster Care and Adoption" Michael Trout Director, The Infant-Parent Institute Reprinted by permission Mr. Trout is a trainer and course leader in infant mental health,

Simple Present, Simple Past and Present Perfect Tenses This is a list of. I will read the base form, the simple past tense and the past participle of the verb. Then, I will read the verb in three sentences,

PUSD High Frequency Word List For Reading and Spelling Grades K-5 High Frequency or instant words are important because: 1. You can t read a sentence or a paragraph without knowing at least the most common.

Student Sample #1: Interpretive Essay We need role models because we need someone to look up to and talk to them so we could know what we want to do later in life. There are all types of people that you

JESUS HEALS A BLIND MAN Mark 8:22-26 Jesus and His disciples were traveling from one town to another. When they came to the next town, some people brought a blind man to Jesus. They begged Jesus to heal

(2) FEAR OF FEAR This lady was cautious. She decided she wouldn t let herself go in her drinking. And she would never, never take that morning drink! Ididn t think I was an alcoholic. I thought my problem

Literary Terminology Irony in a Short Story Instructions: Use the following text to help you complete the lesson. Thank You, Ma am by Langston Hughes (1) She was a large woman with a large purse that had

CD Our Own Way Lyrics Beverly Granoff 2012 1. All The Things We See 2. Remember the Rules 3. You and Me 4. This Too Shall Pass 5. My Best Try 6. Our Own Way 7. A Little Help From You 8. My La La Melody

STAND UP Written by Simon K. Parker Copyright 2016 This screenplay may not be used or reproduced without the express written permission of the author. Simonkyleparker@hotmail.co.uk EXT. CITY STREET - DAY

31 Chapter 5 Activities for the Young Baby (Birth to 6 Months) A new baby does not usually look as though she is doing very much. She spends most of her time eating, sleeping, and resting. But even though

1 Five Little Ducks Five little ducks Went swimming one day Over the hill and far away Mother duck said "Quack, quack, quack, quack." But only four little ducks came back. Four little ducks Went swimming

Additional Mindfulness/Relaxation Activities that can be taught to the Children: Stretching: Cloud Push (5-10 minutes) *Need space for students to spread out so they are not touching. Ask students to image

Life Without You I am invoking my right to remain silent in the face of life, All of my words have escaped from dictionaries, There is only one Word that I must say before Angel of Death is You. I am a

Baby Bounce Rhyme Book Miss Polly Had a Dolly Miss Polly had a dolly who was sick, sick, sick So she phoned for the doctor to be quick, quick, quick The doctor came along with his bag and his hat And he

The Escape BY J. B. STAMPER f, oris looked down the long, dark hallway of the prison. It looked endless. He was being taken to a place that few people had seen. But everyone feared it. Solitary. The other

: Part #2: His Miracles Page 1 During the three years that Jesus traveled, taught and helped people, He did many miracles. Some of them showed that He had power over disease and death (D). Sometimes what

WWW.MRSCARRION.WEBS.COM Name: First Grade High Frequency /Spelling Words Indicate Words that become decodable and are included in blending lines and word work for that week. 1. can 2. I 3. we 4. like 5.

Dear Parents: Many children are bitten and injured by dogs each year. Bites can result from family dogs, neighbor dogs, as well as strange dogs. These injuries often occur because children do not understand

The Wizard of Oz The story step by step 1 This is a summary of the start of the story, but it is not completely correct. Listen to Chapter 1 then find 10 mistakes and correct them. Listen again to check,

THE STORYTELLER Saki It was a hot afternoon, and inside the train it was steamy. The next stop was Templecombe, which was almost an hour ahead. In one car of the train there were a little girl, an even

T H E A T R E F O R Y O U R M O T H E R : THE LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD SHOW The Little Red Riding Hood story from a slightly more postmodernist point of view A play for children and their adults by Russell

English Language Arts Grade 3 Sample Test 2005 Name TIPS FOR TAKING THE SAMPLE TEST Here are some suggestions to help you do your best: Be sure to read carefully all the directions in the test book. Plan

Because of Winn-Dixie By Kate DiCamillo Adapted Text The adapted text can be found at http://coedpages.uncc.edu/access/adaptedbooks.htm. Book Adapted by General Curriculum Access Projects Research Staff

Charles Dickens It was Christmas Eve in London. The bells in the church "Uncle, why do you call Christmas 'humbug'? It's the one holiday when people open their hearts and truly feel kind towards others.

SHE SMOKE'S OWN BRAND Written by Benjamin Scott Campbell Based on: She Smoke's Her Own Brand A short story written by Benjamin Scott Campbell 6501 29th Ave S Seattle, WA 98108 206.683.1202 bscampbell87@gmail.com

ALL ABOUT CHRISTMAS SCRIPT SAMPLE SYNOPSIS Teddy is asleep under a big Christmas tree. He wakes up and finds himself in a brightly decorated sitting room, surrounded by brightly wrapped presents. Teddy

California Treasures High-Frequency Words Scope and Sequence K-3 Words were selected using the following established frequency lists: (1) Dolch 220 (2) Fry 100 (3) American Heritage Top 150 Words in English

The Colors of Christmas A Children s Celebration of the Nativity By Dottie Lafferty Setting: Scene: Characters: Opening: Child1: Child2: Child3: Child4: Child5: Grandma s Living Room The only props will

Weaving the Pieces Together By Annette Unten Life is a woven tapestry. All the people and the events that enter my life become a part of the threads in my tapestry. Bright colors are woven with pastels.

School Bus Rules and Consequences The following rules have a potential consequence (if not followed) of the school bus driver not seeing the student and placing them in danger of being hit by the school

The Best Christmas Gift This ebook is distributed under Creative Common License 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit this work under the following

Winter 2016 ~ Religious Instruction Lesson #6 Learning Objectives Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane Luke 22:39-54 1. The children will recall what happened with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. 2. The

Tall Tales We sit on a carpet during literacy hour in our class. On a Monday morning, we sit there for Show-and-Tell as well. Our teacher asked us if we wanted to tell about our holidays. My hand was the

The big list of discipline classroom language Noise Shh Keep the noise down (please) One point to the person/ team who can do it/ say it most quietly (Everyone) fingers on your lips (and be quiet) What

LEVEL 2.8 12752 Henry and Mudge in the Sparkle Days Rylant, Cynthia Sparkle Days It was winter. Winter! Henry and his big dog Mudge loved winter, because Henry and his big dog Mudge loved snow. This winter

D Student: LONGBLANKLONGBLANKLONGBLANK Extension Level Mastery Tests Teacher s Cumulative Record Have the student read from the student card for each test as you record his responses. Place a blank piece